The present invention relates to cooking apparatuses. More particularly, the invention relates to a cooking apparatus provided with a magnetic card reader in which cooking control data is written onto a magnetic card and cooking operations are affectuated merely by inserting the magnetic card into the magnetic card reader.
Owing to the recent remarkable development of LSI's employed in microcomputers, cooking apparatuses such as electronic cooking stoves, which are now extensively employed as kitchen equipment, often now incorporate a microcomputer device in which cooking procedures are stored by some input means such as a keyboard thereby enabling the stove to carry out intricate cooking operations.
In a conventional cooking apparatus of this type, a person operating the unit must input cooking control data such as cooking time and temperature through an operating input device such as a keyboard whenever cooking is to be done. The time, labor and skill required for this data inputting operation is often substantial. Furthermore, when a cooking operation has been satisfactorily completed, it is often necessary or recommended for the operator to manually record the cooking control data in a cooking notebook so that he can input the same cooking control data a second time. Thus, although a microcomputer has been incorporated into the cooking apparatus, it cannot be said that the number of operating steps in cooking is reduced or that labor is saved. That is, the potential advantages of using a microcomputer have not heretofore been fully utilized.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to provide a cooking apparatus in which a magnetic card reader is incorporated and cooking control data from a satisfactory cooking operation is recorded on a magnetic card so that the data inputting operation can be readily achieved a second time and in which even if cooking control data is erroneously written onto the magnetic card, the data can be readily rewritten.